Lale

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The Books of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1-6)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

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Lale said: " The Wizard of Earthsea is beautiful; beautifully written in a fairytale old saga like style and full of beautiful thoughts about life, language, the true being of things, light and darkness within us, growing (up) ... and all without going to deep in The Wizard of Earthsea is beautiful; beautifully written in a fairytale old saga like style and full of beautiful thoughts about life, language, the true being of things, light and darkness within us, growing (up) ... and all without going to deep into detail or bringing it up to obvious, unlike me right now. There is a lot of room left for your own thoughts and an enthralling storyline about the coming of age of a young mage. This edition comes with the bonus of LeGuins very honest and enlightening thoughts on her own work 50 years after writing this first Earthsea story and is beautifully illustrated. One of these enlightening details is that it took years (!) for publishers to grant the hero his copper skin on the book cover illustrations instead of being pictured "a lily white mage". Equally astonishing are LeGuins sincere thoughts on herself choosing a hero instead of a heroine. I really wonder why The Books of Earthsea and Ursula K. LeGuin herself are so little known to Germans. At least as far as I know. I am very happy to have over 800 pages and several books and stories more to enjoy...

In 'The Tombs Of Atuan' the heroine Tenar has to overcome lifelong learned religious beliefs to free herself from a lonely, harshly restricted life. Freeing herself - and Ged - has a dramatic impact on people's lives and the society she grew up in. Something she will have to learn to live with.
Together with Tenar we explore an absolutely lightless labyrinth and a hostile environment located in a monastery in the desert. Nevertheless there is beauty in that place like the omnipresent smell of sage or a friend, sharing stolen apples and honest thoughts.
An important aspect of 'The Tombs Of Atuan' was for me the theme of the inner voice that tells you that 'the truth' you have been taught your whole life is flawed. Acknowledging this voice, acting on it, freeing herself is what makes Tenar a really strong heroine. She goes against everything she learned because she more and more feels how wrong things are around her.

"The Farthest Shore" - What a beautiful book about the preciousness of life. The message is very simple. There is no life without death, no light without darkness. As we follow Ged, now the Archmage of Roke and Arren, the young prince of The Enlades in their seek for the cause of the omnious illness that came over parts of Earthsea, we go deep into that idea. The will to live and the fear of death both are a natural impulse, the engine of life itself but without an end the circle of life runs dry.

Ged and Arren themselves symbolize this circle. The young Arren thinks he serves the Great Archmage on their endeavour while the older man already senses that it might be the contrary. And Ged is willing to give everything he has to save the world as he is very content with the life he already lived and not afraid of the fact that life is terminal. And guided by the elder - but also already present in himself - young Arren too finds this strength. "I do not care what comes after; I have seen the dragons on the wind of morning."

There is a tenderness in the depiction of their companionship. Arren wants to serve Ged out of the love he felt for the Archmage from the moment they met. In a moment of uncertainty and imminence Arren says, remembering that first encounter, "I have given my love to what is worthy of love. Is that not the kingdom and the unperishing spring?"

We meet the dragons once more and as Le Guin puts it in the Afterword of the book, they are beautiful, mysterious, mortal, "terrible, but not monstrous" and "careless of human life". They are absolutely dangerous and untamable. She gives a little insight to what inspired her dragons and how she used to write her stories. Above all I find her dragons truly majestic.

In part to have for once seen the beauty of "the dragons aloft on the wind" is what gives the two companians the strength to go ahead although there might be no coming back. And we get a stirring and enthralling story to read. ...more "

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(page 552 of 1008)
— Jul 12, 2026 04:53AM

Sep 22, 2023 06:53AM · see review

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“Without data, you're just another person with an opinion.”
― W. Edwards Deming

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“In God we trust; all others bring data.”
― W. Edwards Deming

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“Ein Buch ist eine Welt, eine fertige Welt, eine Welt mit einem Anfang und einem Ende. Jede Seite eines Buches ist eine Stadt. Jede Zeile ist eine Straße. Jedes Wort ist eine Behausung. Meine Augen ziehen durch die Strasse, öffnen jede Tür, dringen in jede Behausung ein.”
― Réjean Ducharme, L'avalée des avalés

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“The problem is not only with what’s right and wrong but the problem is with who decides about what’s right and wrong.”
― Zaman Ali, MORALITY An Individual Dilemma

tags: decides, morality, philosophy, problem, right, wrong

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“Aber vielleicht war es das alles zugleich, unter Vernachlässigung des Gesetzes des ausgeschlossenen Dritten und zur ewigen Beschämung derjenigen, die glaubten, etwas davon zu verstehen.”
― Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven

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